The Canadian Accounting Hall of Fame has announced its latest group of inductees.

There are only four, by far the smallest number to date (last year there were six; there were eight in the year before that). In the “founders of the profession” category, there’s Kenneth Le Mesurier Carter, summarized as follows:

• Kenneth Le Mesurier Carter earned a Commerce and Finance degree from McGill University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1926. As a partner and longtime managing leader of McDonald Currie’s Toronto office, he helped guide the firm’s national growth and exemplified the expanding public role of the accounting profession. Carter’s most enduring contribution came with his appointment by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1962 as Chair of the Royal Commission on Taxation. Leading extensive public consultations and research, the Commission produced the landmark Carter Report, which advanced the principle that all income should be taxed equally summarized by the phrase “a buck is a buck is a buck.” Although controversial, its recommendations directly shaped Canada’s 1972 tax reforms, including the introduction of capital gains taxation. Carter’s legacy continues to influence Canadian tax policy, accounting education, and professional ethics.

He died in 1969. There are only three “leaders of the profession,” all living:

• Brigitte Alepin, who “has reshaped public understanding of taxation as a democratic tool serving the common good in Canada and internationally influencing policy debates and civic engagement.”
• Guylaine Leclerc who founded Quebec’s largest forensic accounting firm, held senior leadership roles in international consulting firms, and was the first woman to be appointed Auditor General of Quebec.
• Steven Glover, who was Executive Director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta from 1983 to 2005, playing a central role in creating the CA Education Foundation in Alberta and the CA School of Business in Western Canada.

Pretty slim pickings compared to previous years, suggesting that the project is running out of steam. For the past several years, I’ve used the Hall’s annual announcement as an excuse for satire (here and here for instance), but this year’s crop is too dispiriting for that. Engaging with the whole thing more seriously then, it’s interesting to note that the Hall is conceived in part as a “curated biographical history of accounting in Canada,” commenting: “This resource will benefit students and practitioners in developing their understanding of accounting in Canada, and reinforces the role that accounting has played, and continues to play, in the development of Canadian society.” A somewhat pretentious and no doubt futile ambition, roughly analogous to supposing that one could meaningfully understand the complexities of America through potted biographies of some of its more colourful presidents. But taking it at face value, it’s rather sad how this year’s selection barely tries to live up to that ambition.

The goal is best evidenced in the more detailed biography provided for Carter, which does provide an interesting narrative on the tax reforms cited above. But it then tails off into platitudes, asserting that his work “continues to shape how accountants, policymakers, and scholars understand taxation, fairness, and the relationship between expertise and democratic decision making.” A grand claim indeed, but somewhat undermined by Alepin’s biography, which continues a largely identical tribute: “Her work demonstrates that taxation, when approached with rigour and imagination, can serve as a powerful instrument for justice, sustainability, and democratic renewal.” That’s two inductees in the same year supposedly continuing to shape and demonstrate the positive capacity of taxation.

But Canada’s tax system isn’t viewed so positively – far from it. To take one presumably credible commentator: CPA Canada said a couple of years ago that it “continues to hear from its members and the broader tax community that the pace and number of significant and complex changes in the tax system are extremely challenging and are adding to an already excessive regulatory and compliance burden on individuals, businesses and tax professionals.” It recommended a comprehensive tax review, led by an independent panel, and said: “In the interim, we strongly recommend that the government adhere to a principled approach to tax policy and administration that is driven by purpose and vision, as opposed to politics and expediency. Simplicity, fairness, efficiency and competitiveness are among the most basic principles of a good tax system.” The strong implication is that the current system doesn’t adequately evidence those qualities; I imagine many would agree at least to some extent.

The point of that example: to assert that individuals have “shaped” or “demonstrated” this or that is meaningless in the absence of an assessment of what has actually been shaped or demonstrated. Placing Carter and Alepin’s biographies in fuller context wouldn’t undermine their personal excellence; it would simply demonstrate how the contributions of even the most visionary and gifted individuals must contend with complex and tangled realities. This might be a first step, at least, toward a true history of accounting…

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.